One World: The Art of Joy Brown Premieres at Mystic Film Festival
- Eduardo Montes-Bradley
- Sep 29
- 2 min read
By Tracey O’Shaughnessy
September 28, 2025
Connecticut Post - The sculptures of Kent artist Joy Brown — round, serene, and ethereal — carry a paradox. Though massive and weighty, they appear to float with pacific grace. This captivating duality drew filmmaker Eduardo Montes-Bradley to her work. Known for his documentaries on artists, he arranged to meet Brown and eventually followed her for two years while she created a monumental 50-foot ceramic mural titled One World.
Installed in 2023 at a private museum on the Japanese island of Amami Oshima, the mural became the centerpiece of Montes-Bradley’s new documentary, One World: The Art of Joy Brown, which screens October 4 at the Mystic Film Festival (October 2–5).
A Journey from Kent to Japan
The film traces Brown’s process from her studio in Kent, Connecticut, to Japan and China, and back again to her home kiln. Since 1987, Brown has fired her work in a traditional Anagama kiln — a 30-foot-long, tunnel-style, wood-fired kiln of ancient Korean and Japanese design. Built with 28 tons of salvaged firebrick, it requires a week of continuous stoking with eight tons of hardwood while the kiln climbs to 2,150°F. The unpredictable firing produces surfaces dusted with ash and glaze that are, in Brown’s words, “always surprising.”
Commissioned by her high school friend Shinichiro Watari, chairman of Cornes & Company, the mural reflects the diverse and close-knit spirit of their international school days in Kobe during the 1960s. Its theme, One World, celebrates harmony and love.
The final work — 500 ceramic panels, each 4-by-12 feet — depicts a reclining female figure beneath a mango tree, embraced by a dog-like companion, surrounded by sea life, vegetation, and butterflies native to Amami Oshima. “I think of it as Mother Earth dreaming of this world of harmony and peace,” Brown explains.
Faith, Craft, and Mission
For Montes-Bradley, Brown’s art reflects her family legacy as Christian missionaries in Asia, infused with Zen-like meditative qualities. “She has inherited the missionary bug,” he says. “It’s just that she’s saving the world with different tools.”
Musician Dave Matthews, a collector of Brown’s work, appears in the film, affirming the kindness and creative discipline at the heart of her art. Brown herself sees her rounded, bronzed figures as projections of an ideal self: “They’re like how I’d like to be — open and aware, calm. Wouldn’t we all like to be like that?”
A Force to Be Reckoned With
Brown’s sculptures once lined Broadway with nine towering bronzes, but she has remained committed to a personal vision rather than fame. Montes-Bradley describes her as “one of the best ceramicists I’ve ever known… a force to be reckoned with.”
One World: The Art of Joy Brown will be presented at the 8th Annual Mystic Film Festival, with a screening on October 4 at 11:30 a.m. at Mystic Luxury Cinemas.
🎟️ For tickets and more information: mysticfilmfestival.com
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